Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-txr5j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-31T07:15:23.852Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Supernovae: The Ultimate Instability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2016

Robert P. Kirshner
Robert P. Kirshner*
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of MichiganAnn Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Observed properties of supernovae and of very young supernova remnants provide important clues to answer the question, “which stars become supernovae?” There are three general lines of evidence (l) the statistics of supernovae, (2) the physical state of supernovae near maximum light, and (3) the chemistry of young supernova remnants. These lines of evidence appear to be converging on the view that all the supernova explosions we see, whether Type I or Type II, arise from the destruction of young massive stars.

It is important to note that supernovae fall into two distinct spectroscopic classes: Type I which does not show strong hydrogen lines, and Type II in which hydrogen emission and absorption is prominent (Oke and Searle, 1974). It is possible that the stellar progenitors of these two types are very different, but recent evidence suggests that the similarities in the properties of the two classes are more important.

Type
Joint Discussion
Information
Highlights of Astronomy , Volume 5: Highlights of Astronomy. As presented at the XVIIth General Assembly of the IAU, 1979 , 1980 , pp. 513 - 515
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

References

Balick, B. and Heckman, T. Ap. J. (Lett.) 226, L7.Google Scholar
Chevalier, R.A.: 1976, Ap. J. 207, 872.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chevalier, R.A. and Kirshner, R.P.: 1978, Ap. J. 219, 931.Google Scholar
Chevalier, R.A. and Kirshner, R.P.: 1979, Ap. J. in press.Google Scholar
Falk, S.W. and Arnett, W.D.: 1977, Ap. J. Supp. 33, 515 Google Scholar
Goss, W.M., Shaver, P.A., Zealey, W.J., Murdin, P. and D.H., Clark: 1979, Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 188, 357.Google Scholar
Kirshner, R.P., Arp, H.C., and Dunlap, J.R.: 1976, Ap. J. 207, 44.Google Scholar
Kirshner, R.P. and Blair, W.P.: 198O, Ap. J. in press.Google Scholar
Kirshner, R.P. and Chevalier, R.A.: 1977, Ap. J. 218, 1 Google Scholar
Kirshner, R.P. and Kwan, J.: 1974 Ap. J. 193, 27 Google Scholar
Kirshner, R.P. and Kwan, J.: 1975, Ap. J. 197, 1 Google Scholar
Kirshner, R.P., Oke, J.B., Penston, M.V., and Searle, L.: 1973 Ap. J. 185, 303.Google Scholar
Kirshner, R.P., Willner, S.P., Becklin, E.E., Neugebauer, G. and Oke, J.B.: 1973a, Ap. J. (Lett.) 180, L97 Google Scholar
Lasher, G.: 1975, Ap. J. 201, 19 Google Scholar
Lasker, B.M.: 198O, Ap. J. in press.Google Scholar
Maza, J. and van den Bergh, S.: 1976, Ap. J. 204, 519.Google Scholar
Oemler, A. and Tinsley, B.M.: 1979, Astron. J. 84, 985–992.Google Scholar
Oke, J.B. and Searle, L.: 1979, Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 12, pp. 315-29.Google Scholar
Weaver, T.A., Zimmerman, G.B., and Woosley, S.E.: 1978, Ap. J. 225, 1021.Google Scholar
Wheeler, J.C.: 1978, Ap. J. 225, 212.Google Scholar